Search form

Security

Special Representative of the Secretary-General Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who is also the head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel, delivered his briefing on the security situation in the Sahel and West Africa on 11 January to the UN Security Council. “The security situation remains a grave concern,” he said. Read on

On the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, France hosted a meeting in support of the G5 Sahel where he met with his counterparts from the G5 countries and other partner countries and organisations. The objective of the meeting was to speed up the structuring of the G5 Sahel at the military, political and financial levels, and make it operational. Read on

Organised by UNOWAS, ECOWAS and UN WOMEN, an Open Doors Day aimed to initiate a dialogue between West African women and regional actors on the implementation of the three-year action plan of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework’s (CPCC) component on women, peace and security. Read on

From 6-8 December in Cotonou, Benin, CILSS organised a conference on “Operational approaches to conflict sensitivity and prevention in pastoral areas,” which was chaired by the Beninese minister of agriculture, livestock and fisheries. The purpose of the event was to present the achievements of the Pastoralism and stability in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa (PASSHA) project. Read on

The ambush that killed four American soldiers in Niger on 4 October has stirred up a public debate in the US. The controversy over the nature of the US intervention in Niger has been fuelled by the US military’s lack of transparency about this operation. With the need to step up the fight against Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the region, the United States may increase its presence and abandon the low-profile strategy that it has preferred until recently. Read on

ECOWAS Commission President Alain Marcel de Souza met with the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, in New York on 26 September. Their meeting focused on the security situation in West Africa, notably the political crisis in Guinea-Bissau, on-going tensions in Togo and the unstable situation in northern Mali. Read on

On 1 October, Nigeria celebrated its 57th Independence Day. On this occasion, President Buhari, present after his long absence this summer because of poor health, paid tribute to the country’s military in Maiduguri and commended the military’s efforts fighting Boko Haram in the country’s northeast. In his 2017 State of the Nation Address, Buhari evaluated the government’s actions over the past two years. Nigeria’s three top priorities remain security, economic recovery and the fight against corruption. Read on

In an interview given to the Swiss Co-operation and published in the June 2017 edition of Africa Brief, Laurent Bossard, director of the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC/OECD), highlighted some key challenges of cross-border co-operation. He pointed out that half the population of West Africa lives within 100-km of a border, where nothing stops “except the policies." Read on

For two years, the UNDP Regional Office for Africa conducted a study to understand why some individuals rally behind major extremist groups in Africa. Based on hundreds of interviews with activists from these movements, the results of this study have been published in a report entitled, “Journey to extremism in Africa: Drivers, incentives and the tipping point for recruitment.” Read on

During a visit to Nigeria on 30 August, the UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and international development secretary Priti Patel, announced a four-year aid package worth GBP 200 million to help northeastern Nigeria recover from the Boko Haram insurgency. This is less than they previously spent (GBP 100 million in 2017 alone) but the new package is intended to complement DFID’s current humanitarian programme. Read on